Ilias Chatzitheodoridis paid tribute to his Brentford team-mates for helping him become more confident on the ball.

The young full back made his senior debut against AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup in August and featured in the win at QPR before the Bees bowed out of the competition at home to Norwich.

And the senior squad took him under their wing after his first appearance and helped him develop his game.

He told the club's official website: "Especially after the first games I played in the cup, afterwards in training as well, that's when they welcomed me.

“They helped me a lot to be more confident on the ball and everything else to. That was very nice.

"That's my target now; to have more minutes, get a league game and play for this team."

Ilias Chatzitheodoridis

Rico Henry's injury has given Chatzitheodoridis a chance to make the first team, although the form of Josh Clarke and Yoann Barbet have, so far, prevented him from doing so.

He explained: "Even when I was playing in just the cup games, I was feeling good. I was waiting to get a chance in the league games as well and so now I'm working hard in training every day to get that chance.

"After training with them a lot, every day since September, it's been really nice. I enjoy it because I'm training with players who play in the league where I want to be involved. That's good for me."

The full back added: "I've been training with the first team and playing B team games because I need some minutes.

“If I'm not involved with the first team or playing with them then I always am happy to play for the B team and I always give 100% to them."